UC-NRLF 


jtfe  of 

ennedc/wen 

ir:. 


marguerite  Mutlnou 


'  •/ 


LIFE  OF  LA  MARQUISE  DE  LA  FAYETTE 


o&fdrienne  dcAyen, 


'^Translated  from  the  French 


(T2dpb'Jfetcher  Seymour 


o  -/i     «» 

*  0 

8  * 
0 


The  translator  is  indebted  to  the  Honorable  Charle- 
magne Tower  for  permission  to  use  this  rare  portrait  of 
La  Marquise  de  La  Fayette.  Mr.  Tower  writes:  "The 
etching  was  made  for  me  in  1894  by  Mr.  Rosenthal  from 
a  photograph  of  a  miniature  sent  to  me  by  the  Marquise 
de  Chambrun.  It  was  painted  at  the  time  of  the  marriage 
of  Madame  de  La  Fayette" ; — to  the  members  of  the 
French  Heroes  La  Fayette  Memorial  Fund  for  their  photo- 
graphs of  the  Chateau  de  Chavaniac,  where,  in  fidelity 
to  their  American  ideals,  they  are  answering  the  "Cry 
of  the  Children"  of  the  slain  soldiers  of  France; — to  Mr. 
E.  F.  Bonaventure  for  the  use  of  his  beautiful  portrait  of 
La  Fayette  by  Duplessis; — to  Miss  Marian  M.  Sands  of 
the  Print  and  Engraving  Department  of  the  Library  of 
Congress  for  her  generous  aid. 


Copyrighted  1918 

by 

Marguerite  Guilhou 
(All  Rights  Reserved) 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Facing  Page 

Chateau  de  Chavaniac  .  10 


La  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 14 

Le  Marquis  de  La  Fayette 18 

Painted  by  Duplessis 

General  de  La  Fayette 28 

Painted  by  Guerin 

The  Tower,  Chavaniac 38 

The  Fireplace,  Chavaniac 54 


A  Monsieur  S.  Richard  Fuller. 
Cher  Monsieur  Fuller, 

Votre  nom  est  le  premier  que  je  desire  lire  au 
commencement  de  ces  pages.  Avant  la  guerre 
—dans  votre  paisible  et  charmant  appartement 
de  Paris — au  milieu  du  cenacle  d'amis  et  de 
lettres,  dont  Mme.  Fuller  et  vous  etiez  I' ante — 
ma  modeste  initiative  litter  air  e  est  nee  de  votre 
exemple!  Vous  avez  bien  voulu,  maintenant, 
vous  en  faire  le  traducteur  amical,  malgre  la 
depense  incessante  de  temps,  d'energie,  et  de 
talent  que  vous  consacrez  si  genereusement  a 
votre  grande  oeuvre  "des  Evacues  du  Monde!' 

Je  desirerais  que  I' Etude  sur  Mme.  de  Lafay- 
ette, si  elle  a  quelque  succes,  puisse  ajouter 
encore  a  tons  ceux  que  vous  recueillez  dans  vos 
belles  conferences,  et  soit,  aussi,  un  temoignage 
de  la  sincere  et  profonde  reconnaissance  de, 
votre  amie, 

MARGUERITE  GUILHOU. 

Paris,  ce  20  Mars,  1918. 
191  rue  de  I'Universite. 


LIFE  OF  LA  MARQUISE  DE  LA  FAYETTE 


CHATEAU  DE  CHAVANIAC 

Auvergne 


!HE  five  daughters  of  Jean  Frangois  de 
Noailles,  Duke  D'Ayen,  and  of  the 
Duchess,  nee  Henriette  d'Aguesseau, 
were  born  in  the  Noailles  mansion  in 
Paris,  situated,  in  the  eighteenth  century,  in  the  Rue 
de  Rivoli,  nearly  opposite  the  Church  of  St.  Roch. 

Here  they  lived  until  their  marriage,  Louise  de 
Noailles,  Adrienne  d'Ayen,  Clotilde  d'Epernon, 
Pauline  de  Maintenon,  and  Rosalie  de  Montclair, 
and  here  they  had  a  happy  childhood.  The  great 
court  planted  with  trees,  extending  as  far  as  the 
Tuileries  Garden,  was  green  and  full  of  sunshine 
and  of  the  song  of  birds,  and  of  the  gayety  of  the 
five  sisters,  a  gayety  often  aroused  by  merry  but  in- 
nocent teasings  to  which  they  subjected  their  teacher, 
Mile.  Marin,  a  little  person,  dry,  thin,  blond,  pinched, 
susceptible,  devoted  to  her  duties  and  fulfilling  them 
admirably. 

At  times  Mile.  Marin  took  her  young  pupils  and 
their  friends  on  little  picnics  in  the  woods  of  Men- 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

don.  Here  they  would  have  donkey  rides.  But  Mile. 
Marin  was  so  ill  at  ease  and  bewildered  on  her 
donkey  that  the  frolicsome  young  girls,  while  sup- 
pressing their  laughter,  were  greatly  amused,  espe- 
cially when  Mile.  Marin  would  slide  off  on  to  the 
grass,  without  being  in  the  least  hurt  by  the  fall. 
She  would  take  them  also  to  St.  Germain  to  see  their 
grandfather,  the  Marechal  de  Noailles.  What  sou- 
venirs for  later  days !  What  happy  hours  spent  in 
running  through  the  green  forest !  And  when  fa- 
tigue obliged  them  to  seek.more  tranquil  pleasures — 
playing  games  of  loto,  which  the  Marechal  gaily 
lost. 

But  the  centre,  the  soul  of  this  home  life,  was  the 
mother,  the  Duchess  d'Ayen  herself;  a  woman  of 
remarkable  virtue,  depth  of  character,  tender  and 
sincere  heart,  high  spirit  and  superior  mind.  She 
regulated  and  supervised  carefully  the  entire  educa- 
tion of  her  daughters.  Without  attaching  too  much 
importance  to  fixed  rules  in  her  plans  for  their  in- 
struction, she  sought,  first  of  all,  to  develop  their 
individual  personality,  and  to  guide  each  child  in 
the  path  best  suited  to  her  own  nature.  She  con- 
sidered that  her  children  should  be  the  first  object 
of  her  solicitude  and  care,  and  she  devoted  to 
them  the  greater  part  of  her  waking  hours.  Early 
in  the  morning  she  gathered  them  for  her  morning 

[12] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

greeting  and  her  tender  kiss.  Then,  on  her  return 
from  mass  at  St.  Roch,  which  she  attended  daily, 
she  again  joined  them.  Frequently  she  was  present 
during  their  lessons.  At  three  o'clock  she  dined 
with  them  in  one  of  the  sumptuous  halls  of  the 
Noailles  mansion,  and  then  took  them  to  her  own 
bedroom,  a  vast  chamber  hung  with  heavy  crimson 
damask  silk  bordered  with  gold,  with  an  immense 
bed  draped  with  superb  hangings.  Here  she  sat  in 
a  little  arm-chair,  a  table  at  her  side  with  her  snuff 
box,  her  books,  her  needles,  and  surrounding  her, 
her  five  daughters,  some  in  chairs,  others  seated  on 
low  tabourets,  disputing,  gently,  which  should  sit 
nearest  to  her,  and  all  hanging  upon  the  words 
from  their  mother's  lips,  who  regarded  conversation 
as  the  best  and  the  most  important  means  of  educa- 
tion. ;  !  -j 

The  second  daughter,  Adrienne  d'Ayen,  who  be- 
came later  Madame  de  La  Fayette,  had  a  quick  mind 
which  seized  upon  difficulties  with  a  determination 
to  solve  them.  She  had  acquired  the  habit  of  argu- 
ing. "I  must  seem  very  disputatious,"  she  said  to 
her  mother,  "because  you  allow  us  to  present  our  ob- 
jections, but  you  shall  see,  Mamma,  when  we  are  fif- 
teen, that  we  shall  be  more  docile  than  other  girls." 
It  is  true  that  Madame  d'Ayen  patiently  listened  to 
all  their  reasonings  with  unwearying  kindness,  but 

[13] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

she  refuted  them  in  such  a  fashion  as  to  satisfy  and 
to  convince  the  child  to  whom  she  spoke. 

Then  there  were  readings  aloud  from  the  most 
beautiful  selections  of  French  literature  and  poetry. 
Comments  on  the  lessons  received  from  their  teach- 
ers were  made,  and  the  Duchess  taught  her  daugh- 
ters the  art  of  dictating  letters,  even  before  they 
had  learned  to  write.  "Everything  was  done  for 
us,"  says  Madame  de  La  Fayette  in  her  biography 
of  her  mother,  written  in  circumstances  we  shall  un- 
derstand later.  "All  her  faculties  were  bent  on  ac- 
complishing our  welfare,  and  on  preparing  our  future 
happiness.  The  integrity  and  strength  of  her  mind 
banished  from  our  education  all  puerilities,  and  ac- 
customed us  from  childhood  to  reason  clearly  and 
accurately.  Her  lively  tenderness  cemented  the  bond 
of  parent  and  child,  and  her  charming  eloquence, 
corroborated  by  her  daily  example,  made  us  under- 
stand Christian  virtue,  which  is  the  principle,  the 
support  and  the  reward  of  virtue." 

uHow  grateful  will  be  her  daughters,"  writes 
Pauline  de  Maintenon,  Marquise  de  Montaigu,  "to 
have  been  brought  up  under  the  guidance  of  this  in- 
comparable mother,  to  be  animated  by  sentiments 
that  are  always  true,  to  fear  even  the  appearance 
of  evil,  to  despise  riches,  and  to  know  and  serve 
God."  Madame  d'Ayen's  religion  was  strong  and 

[14] 


LA  MARQUISE  DE  LA  FAYETTE 

From  a  miniature  in  the  possession  of  the  family 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

sober;  the  fervor  of  her  glowing  piety  was  touched 
by  an  austerity  a  little  Jansenist;  and  Adrienne  in- 
herited from  her  mother,  from  childhood,  a  scrupu- 
lous conscientiousness,  which  led  her  to  put  off  her 
first  communion  until  she  was  fourteen  and  until 
after  her  marriage.  She  then  received  it  with  touch- 
ing faith  and  piety. 

As  to  the  Duke  d'Ayen,  the  father,  he  was  every- 
where except  at  home.  He  interested  himself  in 
chemistry,  in  the  opera,  in  the  affairs  of  the  Court; 
and  his  life  was  passed  in  this  amiable  and  con- 
versational world  of  the  eighteenth  century,  where 
his  rank,  his  wit  and  his  elegance  placed  him  at  the 
front.  This  maternal  training,  therefore,  was  the 
formative  influence  of  the  youth  of  the  five  sisters, 
who,  thus  prepared  for  the  future  to  which  their 
birth  destined  them,  became  not  only  the  model  of 
that  society  but  its  ornament,  and  left  there  the  mark 
of  that  heroism  and  piety  at  which  the  world  still 
marvels. 

When  Adrienne  (d'Ayen)  had  reached  twelve 
years  her  marriage  became  the  subject  of  discussion. 
Her  parents  were  approached  in  reference  to  the 
young  Marquis  de  La  Fayette,  then  fourteen.  JThe 
Marquis  de  La  Fayette — "Marie  Joseph^!  ves'f Gil- 
bert de  Mortier,  Marquis  de  La  Fayette" — belonged 
to  an  illustrious  house  of  France,  and  counted  among 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

his  nearest  ancestors  the  Marquise  de  La  Fayette, 
author  of  "The  Princess  of  Cleves,"  and  of  "Zai'de," 
written  about  1678. 

"Gilbert"  was  born  in  an  old  manoir  of  the  I4th 
century  at  Chavaniac,  in  Auvergne,  in  1757,  a  few 
weeks  after  the  death  of  his  father,  killed  at 
twenty-five  at  the  battle  of  Meuden.  It  was  in  this 
chateau,  flanked  by  four  towers  and  surmounted  by 
a  belfry,  built  upon  the  heights  and  commanding  the 
valley  of  the  river  Allier,  that  the  young  La  Fayette 
was  brought  up  by  his  mother  and  his  two  aunts, 
Mesdames  de  Chavaniac  and  de  Mortier.  He  had 
as  preceptor  a  scholarly  man,  the  Abbe  Fujon.  But 
few  reminiscences  remain  of  this  solitary  and  re- 
tired life  of  his  childhood.  However,  it  is  recounted 
that  the  young  Gilbert  soon  made  apparent  his  in- 
trepidity and  daring.  At  eight  he  scoured  woods 
and  mountains  hunting  a  hyena  which  had  escaped 
from  a  menagerie,  which  it  was  his  dream  to  find 
and  kill( !)  to  the  great  alarm  and  terror  of  the  fem- 
inine household  whose  watchfulness  he  had  evaded ! 
At  eleven  he  was  sent  to  Paris  to  pursue  more  serious 
studies.  At  this  time  he  lost  his  mother  and  thus 
found  himself  in  possession  of  a  very  considerable 
fortune.  For  his  military  education  he  was  entrusted 
by  his  grandfather  to  an  officer  of  distinction,  and 
at  fourteen  he  entered  the  Military  Academy  of 

[16] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

Versailles.  Like  all  the  young  gentlemen  of  that 
period  he  came  out  from  Versailles  with  his  com- 
mission the  following  year. 

Then  it  was  that,  at  fifteen,  his  marriage  with 
Mademoiselle  d'Ayen  was  considered.  But  the 
Duchess,  her  mother,  refused  her  consent  to  this 
union.  She  thought  it  premature,  in  view  of  the 
youth  of  the  suitor,  and  dangerous  because  his  youth 
was  unprotected  and  his  fortune  too  early  acquired. 
But  the  Duke  d'Ayen,  her  father,  insisted,  and  the 
following  year  the  two  children  met  each  other  in 
the  drawing  room  of  the  Noailles  mansion  in  Paris. 

Young  La  Fayette  was  very  tall,  with  red  hair, 
awkward  in  his  manners  and  quite  shy,  as  boys  of 
that  age  are  apt  to  be.  His  dancing  was  without 
grace;  his  game  of  paume  not  brilliant.  But  he  was 
known  as  serious,  of  an  excellent  character,  of  a 
bravery  without  equal,  and  liked  by  all  of  his  com- 
rades, with  whom  he  was  generous  and  kind.  He 
pleased  Adrienne  who,  a  brunette,  pretty,  with  a 
sweet  and  intelligent  expression  and  modest  and 
charming  bearing,  pleased  him  equally.  And  the 
Duchess  "accepted  for  son-in-law,"  says  her  daugh- 
ter, "him  whom,  since  then,  she  has  not  ceased  to 
cherish  as  a  son,  and  of  whom  she  has  felt  the  great 
value  from  the  first  moment  she  knew  him." 

The  marriage  was  celebrated  the  i  ith  April  1774, 

[17] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

in  the  chapel  of  the  Noailles  mansion.  The  child 
wife  was  not  quite  fifteen,  and  the  young  husband 
not  yet  seventeen.  But  the  mutual  attraction  had 
forestalled,  with  these  children,  that  profound  and 
tender  sentiment  which  was  to  unite  and  fortify  them 
during  the  thirty-four  years  of  their  married  life 
through  incessant  changes  of  grief  and  joy. 

The  first  two  years  of  this  union  were  absorbed 
in  presenting  the  young  couple  at  Court  and  in  taking 
their  position  in  the  world.  It  does  not  appear  that 
Monsieur  and  Madame  de  La  Fayette  very  much 
enjoyed  this  life  of  fetes  and  pleasures  in  which  they 
had  to  take  part.  He  himself,  concealing  under  an 
exterior  cold  and  distant,  a  most  active  mind,  a 
firm  disposition,  and  a  soul  on  fire,  lent  himself  but 
little  to  the  graces  of  the  Court;  and  a  life  of  dis- 
sipation was  not  calculated  to  please  Madame  de 
La  Fayette  any  more.  She  attended,  however,  with 
her  elder  sister,  Louise  de  Noailles,  married  before 
her  to  her  cousin,  the  Viscount  of  Noailles,  all  the 
plays  and  all  the  balls  of  the  Court,  when  she  found 
it  a  matter  of  duty,  and  she  gave  herself  to  it  freely 
and  without  scruple. 

Her  attachment  for  her  husband  grew  stronger 
and  stronger,  and  already  dominated  her  completely. 

In  1776  she  had  a  daughter  whom  she  named 
Henriette.  It  was  the  summer  of  this  same  year 

[18] 


LE  MARQUIS  DE  LA  FAYETTE 

General  Commander  of  the   National   Guard  of  Paris,   1789. 

Painted  by  Duplessis,  1725  to  1802 
Original  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  E.  F.  Bonavcnlure  of  New  York 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

that  La  Fayette  met  at  dinner  at  the  Count  de 
Broglie's,  the  Duke  of  Gloucester,  brother  of  the 
King  of  England.  The  subject  of  conversation  dur- 
ing all  the  dinner  was  the  declaration  of  independ- 
ence of  America;  the  young  officer  was  full  of  en- 
thusiasm for  a  question  which  he  heard  discussed  for 
the  first  time,  a  question  fitted  to  interest  his  mind 
filled  with  liberal  thoughts  and  aspirations.  He  re- 
solved then  and  there  to  go  to  serve  the  cause  of  the 
Americans,  a  cause  which  Europe,  and  especially 
France,  did  not  tarry  in  espousing  passionately, 
aroused  by  the  courageous  audacity  of  those  who 
were  then  called  the  "Insurgents"  and  the  "Boston- 
ians."  Fashion  followed  the  general  admiration, 
and  in  the  drawing  rooms  the  English  game  of 
"whist"  was  replaced  by  another  game,  no  less  grave, 
which  was  called  "Boston." 

"This  movement,"  comments  Monsieur  de  Segur, 
"although  it  appears  quite  insignificant,  was  a  nota- 
ble forecast  of  those  great  conversions  to  which  the 
whole  world  later  devoted  itself." 

The  Duke  d'Ayen,  zealously  opposed  to  the  de- 
parture of  his  son-in-law,  and  desirous  that  he 
should  accept  a  position  at  the  Court,  did  all  in  his 
power  to  make  the  venture  fail.  He  persuaded  the 
Minister,  Monsieur  de  Maurepas,  to  send  the  young 
man  a  letter  of  restraint,  and  an  order,  in  the  name 

[19] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

of  the  King,  to  go  to  Italy.  But  La  Fayette  made 
his  escape  from  all  these  entanglements,  and  em- 
barked from  Spain  the  26th  April  1777,  after  six 
months  of  perseverance  and  effort.  The  ship  had 
been  bought  and  equipped  at  his  own  expense,  and 
he  gave  it  the  name  of  La  Victoire.  Little  Madame 
de  La  Fayette  bore  with  courage  this  first  separa- 
tion, yet  with  all  the  sensitiveness  of  her  extreme 
youth.  Already  sharer  in  the  convictions  of  her  hus- 
band, she  admired  him  in  all  he  undertook,  and, 
helped  and  sustained  by  her  mother,  by  whose  side 
she  remained,  she  judged  this  expedition,  as  it  has 
since  been  judged  by  posterity,  and  did  all  in  her 
power  to  calm  the  irritation  of  her  father,  the  Duke. 
Shortly  before  the  departure  of  La  Fayette  they  had 
both  attended  the  marriage  of  Monsieur  de  Segur, 
and  as  everybody  there  was  violently  opposed  to  the 
plan  of  Monsieur  de  La  Fayette,  she  hid  her  tears 
and  maintained  a  calm  exterior,  not  to  seem  to  be  in 
affliction,  for  fear  they  should  bear  malice  against 
her  husband.  For  him  also  the  parting  was  painful, 
and  his  letters  were  full  of  tenderness  and  tears, 
which  he  did  not  hesitate  to  express  in  French 
fashion. 

I  would  like  to  give  proof  of  this  by  extracts  from 
two  of  his  letters. 

[20] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

On  Board  La  Victoire,  30  May  1777. 
I  am  very  far  away  from  you  as  I  write,  my 
dear  heart,  and  to  this  cruel  distance  is  added 
the  uncertainty,  still  more  distressing,  of  when 
I  can  get  any  news  from  you.  What  stirrings 
of  soul,  what  fears  I  must  add  to  the  chagrin, 
so  acute,  of  leaving  you !  You,  who  to  me  are 
the  dearest  possession  in  the  world.  How  will 
you  bear  my  departure?  Will  you  love  me 
any  less  for  it?  Have  you  reflected  that  in 
any  case  I  would  have  to  be  separated  from 
you,  wandering  in  Italy,  and  there  leading  a  life 
without  any  glory?  I  have  experienced — be- 
lieve it! — frightful  agitations  of  heart  in  those 
terrible  moments  which  bore  me  away  from  the 
shore!  If  you  but  knew  all  that  I  suffered  in 
thinking  of  you,  of  Henriette,  of  my  friends ! 

7  June. 

You  will  admit,  dear  heart,  that  the  occupa- 
tion and  the  life  I  am  to  have  are  very  different 
from  those  which  were  in  store  for  me  in  the 
futile  journey  to  Italy. 

Defender  of  that  liberty  which  I  idolize, 
coming  myself  freer  than  any  one  else  to  offer 
the  services  of  a  friend  to  that  interesting  re- 
public, I  bear  with  me  only  my  sincerity  and  my 
[21] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

good  will;  no  ambition;  no  personal  interest. 
In  laboring  for  my  own  glory,  I  labor  for  the 
prosperous  issue  of  their  efforts.  I  hope  on 
my  account  you  will  become  a  good  American. 
It  is  a  sentiment  suited  to  virtuous  hearts.  The 
welfare  of  America  is  bound  closely  to  the  wel- 
fare of  all  humanity.  She  is  to  become  the 
honored  and  safe  asylum  of  liberty! 

Adieu !  Darkness  does  not  suffer  me  to  con- 
tinue longer.  But  if  my  fingers  were  to  fol- 
low my  heart,  I  should  need  no  daylight  to  tell 
you  how  I  suffer  far  away  from  you,  and  how 
I  love  you. 

To  follow  La  Fayette  in  America  from  1777  to 
1784  all  his  correspondence  with  his  wife  would 
have  to  be  quoted  during  the  three  expeditions  which 
he  made. 

From  the  very  first  the  optimism,  the  bravery, 
the  firmness,  and  above  all  the  disinterestedness  of 
this  young  hero  of  nineteen,  won  for  him  the  atten- 
tion of  the  United  States  and  the  rank  of  General 
in  the  army.  He  fought  at  Brandywine,  near  Phila- 
delphia, was  wounded  there;  placed  himself  again 
as  quickly  as  possible  at  the  head  of  his  soldiers,  had 
the  mission  entrusted  to  him  of  administering  in  all 
the  northern  states  the  oath  of  repudiation  of  the 
King  of  England;  and  also  succeeded  in  so  electrify- 

[22] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

ing  public  opinion  in  France  that  the  treaty  of  com- 
merce between  that  nation  and  the  United  States 
was  signed. 

The  second  time,  in  1780,  he  joined  Washington 
and  Rochambeau  in  that  great  adventure  which  re- 
sulted in  the  glorious  campaign  in  Virginia,  the  capit- 
ulation, in  1781,  of  the  British  army,  and  the  as- 
surance of  liberty  and  prosperity  to  the  Americans. 

Finally  his  voyage  in  1784  had  for  its  essential 
feature  his  solemn  reception  by  the  American  Con- 
gress. It  was  then,  with  the  benedictions  of  a  whole 
people,  that  he  set  sail  from  Boston,  after  superb 
fetes,  and  the  touching  farewells  of  Washington,  of 
whom  he  was  proud  to  call  himself  the  friend,  the 
adopted  son  and  the  disciple. 

It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  my  present  purpose 
to  touch  more  upon  these  exciting  events.  But  in 
passing  I  cannot  fail  to  admire  the  profound  and 
warm  friendship  which  bound  the  young  French  of- 
ficer to  the  American  General.  Washington  had  for 
La  Fayette  the  tenderest  affection  which  marked 
his  whole  conduct.  He  admired  the  fact  that  the 
young  nobleman  had  fled  from  the  most  elegant  court 
of  Europe  in  order  to  offer  his  sword  in  aid  of  the 
simple  planters  of  Pennsylvania.  His  religious  soul 
was  gratified  with  the  disinterestedness  of  his  friend, 
to  whom  in  his  faithful  correspondence,  and  during 

[23] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

the  commencement  of  the  Revolution  in  France,  he 
never  ceased  to  give  the  most  affectionate  and  the 
most  sagacious  counsel.  As  to  La  Fayette,  he  felt 
that  he  owed  the  achievement  of  his  moral  value  to 
his  contact  with  Washington,  with  the  man  whose 
nobility,  dignity,  delicacy  and  serenity  of  soul  were 
unequalled  among  the  most  noted  examples  of  an- 
tiquity, and  for  whom  he  had  conceived  most  pro- 
found veneration.  He  led  Madame  de  La  Fayette 
to  share  these  sentiments,  and  when  they  had  a  son 
he  was  called  George,  and  Washington  became  his 
godfather.  "General  Washington  is  moved  by  what 
I  have  told  him  of  you."  writes  La  Fayette  to 
Adrienne  in  1780;  "he  charges  me  to  present  to  you 
his  tenderest  sentiments.  He  has  much  feeling  for 
our  son,  and  is  very  much  touched  by  the  name  that 
we  have  given  him.'' 

Each  return  and  each  departure  of  the  Marquis 
de  La  Fayette  caused  conflicting  emotions  in  his 
wife ;  the  intoxication  of  joy  at  his  arrival,  the  pain, 
the  anguish  of  his  absence.  "Her  sentiment  for 
him,"  writes  her  daughter,  Madame  de  Lasteyrie, 
"had  been  deepened  by  her  anxieties  and  by  the 
charm  of  the  moments  passed  at  her  husband's  side/' 
She  was  not  constituted  for  the  exciting  agitations  of 
glory;  and  would  have  preferred  a  life  of  calm  and 
retirement  within  her  own  family.  But  her  alert 

[24] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

mind,  her  glowing  imagination,  and  her  firm,  though 
precocious,  reasoning  powers,  made  her  a  worthy 
companion  of  a  husband  of  whom  she  was  proud. 
The  little  family  grew.  The  first  child,  Henriette, 
died  at  twenty-two  months  during  the  first  expedition 
of  her  father  to  America,  but  Anastasie,  George  and 
the  little  Virginie  came  in  their  turn  to  console  and 
brighten  the  home.  These  children  spoke  English 
as  fluently  as  French.  They  played  and  laughed 
with  the  Americans  who  came  constantly  to  visit 
their  parents,  and  in  a  letter  written  in  1787,  Xavier 
de  Schomberg  describes  to  his  mother  the  details  of 
this  charming  and  simple  household. 

During  the  five  years  following  his  final  return 
from  America  La  Fayette  was  not  idle.  He  wished 
to  perfect  his  culture  and  his  military  talent  by  going 
to  visit  the  foreign  courts,  England  and  Prussia; 
then  he  took  an  active  part  in  France  to  restore  the 
official  registration  of  the  Protestants. 

This  was  in  1788,  and  his  wife,  who  combined  the 
most  liberal  principles  of  tolerance  with  the  most 
ardent  religious  zeal,  helped  him  and  approved  his 
course  in  this  courageous  campaign. 

Passionately  interested  in  the  "American  ques- 
tion," the  General  had  bought  a  property  at  Cayenne, 
and  dreamt  of  being  near  Washington  to  devote  him- 
self to  the  emancipation  of  the  negroes.  The  re- 

[25] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

ligious  soul  of  Madame  de  La  Fayette  was  equally 
pleased  with  this  project  and  she  labored  already  as 
a  propagandist  with  the  missionaries  and  with  the 
Americans  with  whom  her  husband  had  begged  her 
to  correspond.  But  it  was  not  for  America  that 
they  departed! 

The  crisis  which  was  to  overturn  France  became 
each  day  more  imminent,  and  La  Fayette,  champion 
of  new  ideas  and  of  noble  enthusiasms,  already  was 
playing  his  role  in  political  reform.  With  his  broth- 
er-in-law, the  Viscount  de  Xoailles,  also  recently  re- 
turned from  America,  he  had  become  the  oracle  of 
the  greater  part  of  the  youth  of  France.  There 
was  indeed  a  frankness,  a  warmth  and  often  a  sin- 
cere disinterestedness  in  the  manner  of  discussing, 
in  the  drawing  room,  the  necessity  of  the  reforms 
which  were  pressing,  and  in  the  two  or  three  years 
preceding  1789  it  would  be  astonishing  to  find  how 
many  of  the  nobility  had  reached  the  point  of  wish- 
ing for  more  of  justice  in  social  matters,  and  more 
of  liberty  in  the  government. 

"Those  who  have  lived  during  these  times,"  says 
Madame  de  Stael,  "cannot  fail  to  admit  that  there 
never  has  been  seen  so  much  life  and  so  much  wit 
anywhere,  and  one  gets  a  conception  of  it  by  the 
crowds  of  men  of  talent,  whom  circumstances  brought 
to  the  front  at  that  time.  Never  was  society  so 

[26] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

brilliant  as  during  the  four  or  five  years  which  pre- 
ceded 1791.  In  no  country,  in  no  period,  has  the  art 
of  conversation  in  all  its  forms  been  so  remarkable." 

Soon  conversation  engendered  strife.  Monsieur 
de  La  Fayette  preached  the  abrogation  of  ancient 
privilege,  and  would  have  renounced  for  himself 
even,  as  well  as  for  his  family,  the  most  substantial 
advantages,  in  the  hope  of  establishing  in  France  a 
government  of  freedom. 

The  Duchess,  who  liked  and  admired  her  sons- 
in-law,  did  not  share  their  illusions.  She  foresaw 
that  in  gazing  at  the  stars  one  would  end  by  tum- 
bling into  pitfalls.  And  in  a  grave  malady  which 
she  had  at  this  time,  and  which  she  believed  to  be 
mortal,  she  called  about  her  her  daughters,  and  pre- 
dicted, with  a  strange  lucidity,  the  dangers  which 
they  were  about  to  encounter.  These  young  women 
were  absorbed,  first  of  all,  with  their  households,  and 
with  the  poor  and  with  prisoners  whom  they  visited 
in  their  cells;  and  their  lives  were  passed  in  doing 
good,  relieving  morally  and  physically  those  who 
seemed  worthy  of  pity.  Adrienne,  however,  more 
than  the  others,  regardless  of  her  early  education, 
shared  the  liberal  ideas  of  her  husband,  and  pro- 
fessed them  with  frankness,  while  preserving  a 
delicacy  which  it  would  be  difficult  to  describe,  and 
which  protected  her  from  being  a  "party  woman." 

[27] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

Monsieur  de  La  Fayette,  possibly  to  increase  his 
popularity,  kept  open  house,  and  his  wife  did  the 
honors  with  charming  grace,  skilfully  receiving  each 
guest  as  her  husband  would  wish,  yet  preserving  her 
own  independence  when  it  had  to  do  with  persons 
whose  presence  or  whose  utterances  would  have  of- 
fended her  attachment  to  the  Catholic  faith,  which 
she  felt  herself  bound  to  emphasize  the  more,  in 
view  of  her  personal  position.  She  received  the  Sis- 
ters of  the  religious  orders  who  asked  for  protection. 
She  encouraged  the  priests  who  had  not  taken  the 
civil  oath  under  the  law  of  1790,  and  attended  faith- 
fully the  services  in  the  oratories.  Madame  de 
Lasteyrie,  who  relates  this,  adds:  uNo  considera- 
tion made  my  mother  hesitate  when  it  concerned  a 
duty  to  be  done.  In  fulfilling  the  duty  she  found 
consolation  on  frequent  occasions  in  showing  my 
father  her  respect  for  liberty  of  worship,  and  her 
firmness  in  maintaining  it." 

But  I  have  not  here  to  dwell  upon  the  history  of 
the  French  Revolution,  nor  upon  that  of  the  Marquis 
de  La  Fayette  during  those  three  years  when  his 
fame  "surpassed  that  of  a  Necker  or  a  Mirabeau." 
Adored  by  the  people  whose  interests  he  cham- 
pioned; defender  of  the  King,  but  wishing  a  consti- 
tutional King  who  should  have  no  power  more  than 
the  President  of  the  United  States;  a  "suspect" 

F281 


GENERAL  DE  LA  FAYETTE 

Deputy  from  Auvergne  to  the  National  Assembly  in  1789 
Painted  by   Guerin 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

among  the  Royalists,  as  later  he  became  among  the 
Jacobins,  he  was  in  turn  acclaimed  and  derided, 
heeded  and  calumniated. 

Made  Commander  of  the  "Place  de  Paris,"  he 
had  to  hold  in  leash  an  immense  population,  "exalted 
even  to  intoxication  and  stirred  even  to  the  very 
dregs."  Yet  notwithstanding  his  great  popularity 
and  devotion,  he  could  not  stay  the  assassinations, 
though  at  times  the  assassins  themselves  were  ar- 
rested by  his  own  command. 

Twice  he  presented  his  resignation,  to  the  great 
joy  of  Madame  de  La  Fayette,  who  was  constantly 
concerned  and  anxious,  and  who,  the  second  time, 
agreed  to  receive,  representing  her  husband,  the  mu- 
nicipality and  the  delegates  of  sixty  battalions  who 
came  to  implore  La  Fayette  to  resume  his  office  of 
Commander.  She  was  not  at  all  embarrassed  in 
responding  to  the  leaders,  and  in  giving  to  the  fa- 
mous Santerre,  who  was  the  cause  of  this  resigna- 
tion, the  reasons  why  her  husband  had  resigned; 
only  too  glad  to  fulfill  this  delicate  task  which  per- 
mitted their  return  to  private  life.  This  satisfaction 
was  not  of  long  duration.  La  Fayette,  having  yielded 
to  the  wish  of  all  the  citizens  of  the  Capital,  re- 
sumed the  duties  of  his  office.  At  that  moment  he 
was  literally  adored  and  his  influence  was  absolute 
upon  the  people.  But  after  the  Federation  (cele- 

[29] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

brated  in  1790)  the  cries  of  hate  succeeded  the 
cries  of  loyalty;  and  one  night  after  a  day  of  street 
fighting  when  Madame  de  La  Fayette  had  trembled 
for  the  life  of  her  husband,  she  heard  a  furious 
crowd  coming  to  their  house  in  the  Rue  de  Lille, 
where  she  lived  since  she  had  left  the  Noailles  man- 
sion. The  cry,  "Down  with  La  Fayette!" — "Death 
to  La  Fayette !"  reached  her  ears.  The  General 
had  not  come  home.  They  swore  they  would  cut 
off  the  head  of  his  wife  and  put  it  on  the  point  of 
a  lance  to  greet  him  as  he  returned.  Calm,  she  kissed 
her  children,  and  then  hid  them.  Then  she  barred 
the  doors  and  stationed  the  guards,  which  luckily 
had  been  doubled.  The  assailants  went  to  the  rear 
of  the  house,  climbed  the  wall  of  the  garden,  and 
were  about  to  gain  entrance  to  the  house  when  a 
troop  of  cavalry  put  them  to  flight. 

At  length,  after  the  arrest  of  Louis  XVI  at 
Varenne,  his  return  to  the  Tuileries,  his  acceptance 
of  the  constitutional  act,  and  the  vote  by  which  the 
Assembly  adopted  unanimously,  upon  the  proposal 
of  La  Fayette,  the  general  amnesty,  it  was  believed 
that  a  new  era  had  begun.  And  France  had  a  few 
days  of  delirious  joy. 

The  8th  October  La  Fayette,  having  tasted  his  last 
hours  of  popularity,  left  Paris  with  his  family  for 
Chavaniac.  The  feeling  of  deliverance  Madame  de 

[30] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

La  Fayette  experienced  can  be  imagined.  The  whole 
journey  was  a  triumph  for  her  husband.  Through 
towns  and  villages  as  they  passed  she  did  not  cease 
to  rejoice  at  what  she  believed  to  be  the  end  of  his 
political  career.  Arriving  near  the  chateau  de 
Plauzat,  where  the  sister  of  Madame  de  La  Fayette, 
Pauline  de  Maintenon,  Marquise  de  Montaigu, 
lived,  they  could  not  be  received  because  Monsieur 
de  Beaune,  father-in-law  of  the  Marquise,  did  not 
approve  of  the  ideas  of  Monsieur  de  La  Fayette,  and 
would  not  suffer  him  to  come  under  his  roof. 

They  made,  therefore,  a  little  halt  at  Vaire,  in 
Auvergne,  near  the  Chateau  de  Chavaniac,  where 
Madame  de  Montaigu  came  furtively  to  greet  the 
travelers.  It  was  evening,  at  sunset.  The  young 
chatelaine  of  the  chateau,  accompanied  by  two  faith- 
ful and  discreet  domestics,  slipped  into  the  obscure 
little  inn  where  she  was  to  find  her  relatives,  while 
outside  the  villagers  were  welcoming  the  General. 
The  two  sisters  rejoiced  in  seeing  each  other  again, 
and  exchanging  confidences.  Madame  de  La  Fa- 
yette, become  an  optimist  under  the  influences  of  her 
husband,  believed  the  revolution  finished,  and  hoped 
to  grow  old  in  peace  at  Chavaniac,  surrounded  by 
children  and  husband.  Madame  de  Montaigu,  who 
had  consented  to  follow  her  husband  and  her  fa- 
ther-in-law as  ''emigres,"  wept,  overcome  by  dark 
forebodings. 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

On  both  sides  the  adieux  were  touching.  Madame 
de  Chavaniac,  lovable  and  spirited,  received  her 
family  with  open  arms,  and  soon  the  Duchess  de 
Noailles  and  her  daughter  Louise,  Viscountess  de 
Noailles,  the  favorite  sister  of  Adrienne,  arrived  to 
complete  the  joy  of  this  reunion.  They  remained 
two  weeks  at  Chavaniac,  and  this  repose  was  balm 
to  the  heart  of  Madame  de  La  Fayette,  who  little 
thought  this  meeting  was  to  be  their  last !  As  to  the 
General,  uhe  had  preserved  such  simplicity  of  hab- 
its," says  his  wife,  "after  three  years  in  the  midst  of 
such  storms,  that  he  found  comfort  in  the  tranquility 
of  the  scenes  of  his  childhood,  and  in  a  sweet  flower 
of  sentiment  which  made  him  happy, — the  presence 
of  Madame  de  Chavaniac  and  Madame  d'Ayen 
whom  he  cherished  as  two  mothers."  "I  rejoice  like 
a  lover,"  he  writes  the  2Oth  October  1791,  "in  the 
liberty,  the  equality,  the  fundamental  change  which 
has  put  all  citizens  upon  the  same  level,  and  which 
honors  only  the  legal  authorities."  UI  have  as  much 
pleasure,  and  perhaps  as  much  'amour-propre1  in 
this  absolute  repose,  as  I  have  had  in  fifteen  years 
of  public  activity.  Nothing  now  save  the  duty  of 
our  self  defence  can  drag  me  away  from  private 
life." 

This  "duty"  came  quickly  to  him.    The  General, 
appointed  by  Monsieur  de  Narbonne  commander  of 

[32] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

one  of  the  armies  then  being  formed,  left  Chavaniac 
two  months  later,  at  the  end  of  December,  1791, 
to  assume  command.  War  was  declared  in  March, 
1792.  Madame  de  La  Fayette  remained  with  her 
children  in  Aubergne  near  Madame  de  Chavaniac, 
more  and  more  consumed  with  anxiety  about  her 
husband,  as  the  daily  papers  and  her  letters  from 
him  brought  her  intelligence  of  his  struggles,  and 
of  that  period,  so  dramatic,  which  at  the  close  left 
him  but  the  choice  between  the  scaffold  and  exile. 
She  knew  that  after  the  horrors  of  the  10  June  he 
had  no  fear  of  writing  to  the  Legislative  Assembly 
to  severely  reproach  them  for  violences  committed 
at  the  Tuileries,  demanding  punishment  of  the  guilty, 
and  coming  himself  to  the  tribunal  to  sustain  the 
conviction  which  had  dictated  his  letter.  After  that 
he  offered  his  services  to  the  King,  and  invited  him 
to  take  refuge  with  the  army,  but  without  success. 
On  his  return  to  camp  he  was  informed  that  he 
had  been  removed  from  command  by  the  Assembly, 
and  ordered  to  trial.  The  role  of  moderator  he  had 
wanted  to  play  had  aroused  the  hatred  of  Robes- 
pierre, who  exclaimed,  "Let  us  all  unite  to  accuse 
La  Fayette!" 

A  terrible  example  must  be  made  of  him. 

Then  seeing  in  the  army  his  popularity  destroyed 
and  his  influence  compromised,  the  General  became 

[33] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

aware  that  the  Revolution,  of  which  he  had  been  so 
sincerely  the  elder  son,  had  turned  against  him,  so 
that  he  was  driven  to  find  an  asylum  in  a  neutral 
country,  to  save  his  life  now  proscribed,  in  the  hope 
of  one  day  still  serving  France  and  the  cause  of 
liberty. 

With  ten  other  officers  he  left  in  the  middle  of  the 
night,  hoping  to  reach  England,  but  at  the  frontier 
he  encountered  an  Austrian  guard  and  was  immedi- 
ately arrested.  Taken  to  Namur,  then  to  Coblentz, 
finally  he  was  lodged  in  the  prison  of  Magdebourg, 
as  were  also  Messieurs  de  Latour-Maubourg,  Bureau 
de  Pusy  and  de  Lameth. 

The  role  he  had  played,  the  influence  he  had 
exerted,  aroused  instantly,  as  he  himself  said,  a  sort 
of  European  concert,  uwhere  it  was  found  that 
Monsieur  de  La  Fayette  was  not  only  the  champion 
of  the  French  Revolution,  but  of  universal  liberty, 
and  that  his  existence  was  incompatible  with  the 
safety  of  the  governments  of  Europe."  But  Ma- 
dame de  La  Fayette  breathed  more  freely  when  she 
learned  that  her  husband  was  out  of  France.  But 
"this  La  Fayette,  whose  shoes  were  adoringly 
kissed"  in  1790,  was  now  no  more  than  the  worst 
of  scoundrels,  and  his  flight  put  in  peril  all  who  be- 
longed to  him.  Feeling  herself  menaced,  she  sent 
away  her  children  from  Chavaniac,  and  established 

[34] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

all  these  in  a  domain  sufficiently  near  with  Monsieur 
Frestel,  preceptor  of  her  son  George.  But  Anastasie, 
the  eldest  daughter,  then  fifteen,  could  not  endure 
the  thought  of  not  sharing  the  fate  of  her  mother, 
and  came  back  to  Chavaniac  the  Qth  September, 
bringing  back  her  sister  and  their  governess.  The 
morning  of  the  loth,  while  the  sisters  are  dressing, 
a  noise  is  heard  in  the  direction  of  the  village  upon 
the  main  thoroughfare,  which  continues  to  increase, 
till  suddenly  the  Court  of  Honor  of  the  Chateau  is 
filled  with  armed  men.  The  terrified  domestics 
scatter  and  hide.  Madame  de  La  Fayette,  who 
was  writing  to  her  husband,  seated  in  her  room,  has 
no  time  to  get  up  from  her  chair;  the  chamber  is 
invaded.  The  Marquise  is  immovable;  she  seems 
to  be  as  entirely  at  ease  in  the  midst  of  these  furious 
men  as  in  the  drawing  rooms  of  her  mother,  or  in 
those  of  the  rue  de  Lille,  her  own.  She  approaches 
the  chief  and  asks  his  orders,  and  when  she  sees 
that  resistance  is  impossible,  she  announces  that  she 
is  ready  to  follow,  and  while  the  pillagers  search 
the  wardrobes  and  every  corner,  she  thinks  only  of 
her  children,  and  gives  orders  in  a  low  voice  to  a 
faithful  servant  to  hide  them.  But  Anastasie  en- 
ters and  kisses  her  mother,  calling  her  "Mamma,"  in 
order  that  she  could  not  remain  unknown.  "I  am 
of  an  age  to  be  arrested  with  my  mother,"  she  says. 

[35] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

Madame  de  La  Fayette,  notwithstanding  her  per- 
plexity, replies,  "You  are  right,  my  child.  Your  fa- 
ther would  be  proud  of  you."  But  she  wishes  that 
the  little  Virginie  might  be  spared,  and  succeeds  in 
hiding  her  in  the  fire-place. 

Madame  de  Chavaniac  appears.  She  is  seventy- 
three  and  is  so  rooted  in  her  surroundings  and  at- 
tached to  her  chateau  that  no  consideration  has  ever 
been  able  to  decide  her  to  go  elsewhere.  But  she 
declares  she  must  accompany  her  niece,  and  the  three 
ladies  mount  the  carriages  got  ready  in  haste.  Noth- 
ing compromising  among  the  papers  was  found.  A 
few  days  before  Madame  de  La  Fayette  had  burnt 
everything.  They  arrive  the  next  day  at  noon  at 
Puy.  Here  the  Directory  of  the  Department  was 
in  session.  The  prisoners  are  taken  before  them, 
and  Madame  de  La  Fayette  makes  an  earnest  plea 
in  behalf  of  her  husband.  Making  no  concessions 
either  to  Royalists  or  to  Jacobins,  she  was  simple 
and  touching,  and  not  fearing  to  declare  herself  an 
enthusiast  for  the  opinions  of  her  husband,  she  ex- 
claimed: "When  he  shall  have  become  a  traitor,  I 
consent  to  be  beheaded." 

Discussion  followed,  but  the  department  did  not 
consider  itself  authorized  to  set  her  at  liberty.  She 
was  held  in  custody  with  Madame  de  Chavaniac  and 
Anastasie  until  orders  arrived  from  Roland. 

[36] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

It  was  from  Puy  that  Madame  de  La  Fayette 
wrote  to  Brissot  that  famous  letter:  "I  believe  you 
a  genuine  fanatic  for  liberty.  I  am  sure  that  you 
admire — I  would  almost  say  that  you  esteem — 
Monsieur  de  La  Fayette;  therefore  I  address  my- 
self to  you.  If  it  were  wished  absolutely  to  retain 
me  as  hostage,  my  imprisonment  would  be  mitigated 
by  permitting  me  to  choose  Chavaniac  on  parole  and 
on  the  guarantee  of  my  village.  If  you  wish  to  serve 
me  you  will  have  the  satisfaction  of  having  done  a 
good  deed  in  ameliorating  the  lot  of  one  unjustly 
persecuted.  I  consent  to  owe  you  this  service. 
(Signed)  Noailles  La  Fayette." 

This  "I  consent  to  owe  you  this  service"  wounded 
the  armour-proper  of  Brissot,  who  caused  Roland  to 
send  an  answer  full  of  insults  against  La  Fayette  and 
against  "the  superannuated  pride  of  so-called  'no- 
bility.' '  But  he  stopped  there,  and  granted  Mad- 
ame de  La  Fayette  what  she  had  requested.  The 
three  ladies  returned,  therefore,  on  parole  to  Chav- 
aniac, where  they  found  under  the  devoted  and  vigi- 
lant protection  of  Monsieur  Frestel,  George  and 
Virginie,  who  had  passed  through  all  these  recent 
experiences  with  the  carelessness  of  youth.  For  five 
months  Madame  de  La  Fayette  was  without  news  of 
her  husband.  Unceasingly  she  sent  entreaties,  even 
to  the  King  of  Prussia,  that  the  General  might  be  set 

[37] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

at  liberty.  "Sire,"  she  wrote  to  Frederick  the  Great, 
"Is  it  that  both  the  enemies  of  Monsieur  de  La  Fay- 
ette, and  I  myself  do  not  speak  with  eloquence  in  his 
favor?  His  enemies  prove  his  virtue  and  how  he  is 
to  be  feared  by  evil-doers,  while  I,  I  show  how 
worthy  he  is  of  being  loved." 

The  treason  of  Dumouriez  having  caused  an  in- 
crease of  the  persecution,  and  the  representative  of 
the  people,  in  passing  through  the  country,  having 
said  that  "Citizeness"  La  Fayette  must  be  arrested, 
she  went  to  find  him  at  the  village  of  Brioude,  and 
said :  "If  in  every  circumstance  I  would  be  glad  to  be 
surety  for  Monsieur  de  La  Fayette,  I  would  never 
be  willing  to  be  surety  for  his  "enemies,"  "Citi- 
zeness," responded  the  representative,  "these  senti- 
ments are  worthy  of  you." 

"I  am  not  embarrassed  to  know,  Monsieur,  if  they 
are  worthy  of  me.  I  only  wish  to  be  sure  that  they 
are  worthy  of  Monsieur  de  La  Fayette." 

She  did  not  address  any  request  nor  present  any 
petition  without  signing  proudly,  "La  femme  La 
Fayette." 

Her  nights  and  days  were  passed  in  a  continual 
agony,  and  the  sole  ray  of  light  in  all  these  sad  hours 
was  a  letter  from  her  husband,  which  she  received 
through  the  Minister  of  the  United  States,  Gouver- 
neur  Morris,  dated  from  the  prison  of  Magdebourg. 

[38] 


CHAVANIAC 

Tower  in  which   Gilbert  Metier  de  La   Fayette  was  born 
September  6th,  1757 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

More  passionately  than  ever  she  conceived  the 
longing  to  go  to  join  him,  but  to  do  this  she  must 
hand  back  her  parole  which  she  had  given,  secure 
safety  for  her  aunt,  Madame  de  Chavaniac,  and  pay 
some  pressing  debts.  No  longer  having  any  money, 
the  property  of  her  husband  having  been  seized  and 
sold,  she  applied  to  Gouverneur  Morris,  who  very 
generously  sent  to  her  the  amount  she  needed, 
saying  that  if  circumstances  should  cause  to  be  lost 
what  he  had  advanced,  the  Americans  would  be  re- 
sponsible for  It.  Able  thus  to  quiet  the  creditors  of 
the  General,  she  made  ready  for  her  immediate  de- 
parture. She  hoped  that  soon  liberty  would  be  given 
to  her  to  quit  Chavaniac.  While  waiting  she  de- 
voted herself  to  the  pious  poor  of  the  village,  ex- 
horted them  on  the  future  life,  tried  to  distract  and 
take  to  walk  her  younger  children,  and  found  her 
consolation  with  her  oldest  daughter,  Anastasie,  this 
young  girl,  already  so  serious  and  so  kind,  and  who 
"from  childhood,"  said  her  mother,  "seemed 
destined  to  make  her  feel  that  in  the  midst  of  the 
greatest  ills  we  are  still  capable  of  joy." 

This  life,  relatively  calm,  lasted  but  a  few  months. 
In  January,  1794,  took  place  the  selection  of  the 
papers  "tainted  with  feudalism,"  which  were  carried 
off  with  the  busts  of  the  King  and  of  Mirabeau,  and 
burnt.  This  was  the  preliminary  of  the  arrest  of 

[39] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

Madame  de  La  Fayette,  which  the  Revolutionary 
Committee  had  just  decided  upon.  The  same  scene 
was  re-enacted  as  on  the  morning  of  the  loth  Sep- 
tember, 1792.  But  this  time  Madame  de  La  Fay- 
ette went  out  alone  notwithtsanding  the  tears  and 
prayers  of  Anastasie  who  wished  to  follow  her.  She 
was  taken  to  Brioude  where  she  was  put  in  prison. 
When  she  enters  the  room  where  are  also  in  custody 
(as  captives)  four  or  five  noble  ladies  of  the  region, 
the  reception  given  her  is  disconcerting;  part  of  the 
aristocracy,  and  above  all  that  of  the  provinces,  de- 
tested even  the  name  of  La  Fayette.  She  then  went 
into  the  little  adjacent  room  and  took  a  seat  among 
three  bourgeoises  who  received  her  with  kindly 
warmth.  But  her  sweetness,  her  condescension,  her 
desire  to  please  and  help  all  who,  like  her,  were  in 
durance,  drew  to  her  the  heart  of  her  peers,  and  they 
quickly  caught  the  admiration  which  she  inspired  in 
all  those  who  came  near  her. 

In  this  prison,  where  persons  of  all  classes  were 
crowded  pele-mele}  hardly  separated  by  a  screen,  the 
quarrels  and  the  daily  annoyances  rendered  life  still 
more  distressing.  Alone,  Madame  de  La  Fayette 
awakened  general  attachment,  so  much  so  that  Mon- 
sieur Frestel  could  touch  the  heart  of  the  jailer  and 
bring  to  their  mother  the  three  children  in  turn, 
every  two  weeks. 

[40] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

But  the  8th  "Prairial"  orders  came  to  conduct 
the  Marquise  to  the  prison  "de  la  Force"  at  Paris. 
The  captain  of  the  gendarmerie  of  Brioude  came  to 
read  to  her  the  order  of  the  Committee  of  General 
Safety.  All  the  prisoners,  anxious  for  her,  sur- 
rounded her.  "Have  no  fear,  Mesdames,"  she  said, 
with  calm;  "I  am  only  transferred  to  Paris."  She 
devined  too  well  the  menace  which  this  transfer  car- 
ried with  it,  and  thought  of  trying  to  escape,  but 
abandoned  it  for  fear  of  drawing  new  rigors  upon 
her  companions  of  the  prison  of  Brioude.  Her 
children,  advised  of  her  departure,  came  to  say  adieu. 
Anastasie,  supported  by  the  approval  of  Monsieur 
Frestel,  obtained  from  her  mother  permission  to 
follow  her,  and  to  go  to  Paris  to  the  Minister  of  the 
United  States  to  ask  for  help  and  succor,  but  she 
could  not  get  the  permit  which  she  went  to  implore 
at  Puy,  which  was  refused  her  with  coarse  jokes  and 
gross  insults.  Madame  de  La  Fayette  took  her  de- 
parture alone  in  a  post  chaise,  thanks  to  the  devotion 
of  the  servants  of  Chavaniac,  who  sold  their  jewels, 
in  order  that  she  should  not  be  carried  in  a  common 
cart  from  brigade  to  brigade  till  Paris  should  be 
reached. 

The  Marquise  remained  a  fortnight  at  the  Paris 
prison  "de  la  Force,"  and  was  then  transferred  to 
that  of  Plessis,  formerly  a  college  where  Monsieur 

[41] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

de  La  Fayette  was  brought  up  and  which  had  been 
made  into  a  prison.  This  was  the  moment  when 
Robespierre  had  organized  a  terror  in  "The  Ter- 
ror." Sixty  victims  each  day  were  sent  to  the  block. 
Madame  de  La  Fayette  waited  fifty-two  days  for 
her  turn,  which  by  miracle  never  came.  Every 
morning  she  saw  go  out  a  convoy  of  twenty  persons 
for  the  scaffold.  "The  thought  that  you  will  soon 
be  of  that  number,"  she  writes,  "makes  you  stronger 
for  such  a  spectacle."  At  Plessis  she  found  her 
cousin,  Madame  de  Durras.  They  could  not  repress 
their  terrible  anxiety  as  to  the  fate  of  those  dear 
to  them.  One  day  Adrienne  had  to  inform  her  cousin 
of  the  death  of  her  parents,  the  Duke  and  Duchess 
de  Mouchy,  and  she  herself  lived  in  the  continual 
fear  of  learning  of  that  of  her  own  mother  and  of 
her  sister  de  Noailles,  whom  she  knew  to  be  in  cus- 
tody in  the  Luxembourg.  When  the  atrocious  Robes- 
pierre had  perished,  and  the  massacres  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary Tribunal  ceased,  she  learned  their  fate. 
This  is  the  story: 

The  8th  October,  1793,  the  widow,  old  and  feeble, 
of  the  Duke  de  Noailles  (Marechal  de  Noailles) 
who  had  just  died,  her  daughter-in-law,  the  Duchess 
d'Ayen  and  her  grand  daughter,  Louise,  Viscountess 
of  Noailles,  who  had  remained  near  her  mother 
with  her  children,  awaiting  more  favorable  circum- 

[42] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

stances  to  leave  her  and  join  her  husband  in  England 
— all  were  arrested  and  shut  up  in  their  own  house, 
the  Noailles  mansion  in  Paris,  where  they  were  kept 
till  spring.  Then  they  were  incarcerated  in  April  in 
the  prison  of  the  Luxembourg,  and  at  length,  des- 
tined for  the  block,  they  were  taken  to  the  old  Con- 
ciergerie  where  they  were  offered  one  cot  for  three. 
One  of  the  women  prisoners  gave  her  cot  to  the 
Marechale,  and  Madame  d'Ayen  seated  herself  upon 
the  other.  But  the  Viscountess,  who  at  Luxem- 
bourg had  been  heroic  in  her  devotion  and  filial  self- 
denial,  remained  standing,  replying  to  those  who 
pressed  her  to  take  a  little  repose,  "Why  seek  re- 
pose on  the  eve  of  Eternity?"  "This  angel,"  says 
one  of  the  survivors,  "was  unceasing  in  prayer;  her 
eyes  fixed  in  contemplation  of  that  heaven  which  she 
was  about  to  enter,  and  her  beautiful  countenance  re- 
flecting the  serenity  of  her  soul.  Never  was  seen 
such  calm  in  such  an  abiding  place  of  horror."  The 
22d  July  1794,  she  maintained,  as  well  as  her  mother, 
the  same  serenity  in  the  cart  which  bore  them  off  to 
the  place  of  execution.  A  priest  who  had  promised 
them  his  aid  during  the  supreme  hour,  slipping 
through  the  crowd,  was  able  to  send  them  a  final  ab- 
solution. What  a  spectacle !  The  storm  of  horror 
bursts  upon  the  city.  The  old  lady,  the  Marechale, 
is  jostled  upon  the  miserable  seat,  a  board  without 

[43] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

any  back.  The  wind  blows  off  her  bonnet  and  tosses 
her  gray  hair.  The  Duchess  d'Ayen  is  the  first  made 
to  mount  the  scaffold;  her  collar  is  roughly  cut.  In 
her  striped  robe,  white  and  blue,  she  encourages  those 
about  her  and  remains  in  an  attitude  of  noble  and  re- 
signed devotion.  When  her  turn  to  be  sacrificed  ar- 
rives, the  executioner  tears  out  a  handful  of  her  hair, 
her  bonnet  being  held  by  a  single  pin.  The  poignancy 
of  her  pain  is  depicted  on  her  countenance,  but  is 
immediately  effaced  by  her  sweetness  of  expression. 
At  length  Louise,  Viscountess  of  Noailles,  all  in 
white,  a  veritable  angel,  an  incarnation  of  purity  and 
love,  follows  her  mother.  Her  beautiful  blond  hair 
is  profanely  sacrificed,  but  she  had  made  the  sacrifice 
of  her  life,  and  is  now  concerned  only  with  her  fellow 
sufferers,  speaking  to  a  young  man  who  climbs  with 
her  the  steps  of  the  scaffold,  and  blasphemes.  "Have 
pity,  Monsieur,  and  ask  forgiveness  of  God."  She 
left  three  children  and  a  husband  she  cherished. 
One  cannot  linger  upon  such  memories  without 
shuddering.  But  perhaps  in  the  divine  and  mysteri- 
ous plan  the  blood  of  such  precious  and  noble  victims 
in  pouring  out  upon  the  soil  of  France  has  expiated 
her  faults  and  purified  her  soul. 

When  Madame  de  La  Fayette  learned  from  Ma- 
dame de  Durraa-the  events  of  this  226.  July  her  grief 
was  so  violent  that  she  no  longer  wished  to  live. 

[44] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

"Thank  God,"  she  writes  to  her  children,  "for  hav- 
ing preserved  my  life,  my  reason  and  my  strength, 
and  do  not  regret  having  been  far  away  from  me. 
God  has  saved  me  from  a  revolt  against  him,  but 
I  would  not  have  been  able  to  bear  even  the  appear- 
ance of  any  human  consolation."  And  at  another 
time  to  her  son:  "The  thought  of  following  those  so 
dear  would  have  changed  for  me  even  into  sweetness 
the  awful  details  of  this  last  agony." 

The  Terrorist  Convention  having  ended, 
"drowned  in  its  own  blood  and  exhausted  with  its 
own  crimes,"  the  prisons  were  opened,  but  Madame 
de  La  Fayette  was  retained,  the  name  she  bore  being 
execrated  by  the  Revolutionists,  who  had  not  been 
able  to  drag  her  husband  into  their  crimes  and  ex- 
cesses. Finally,  thanks  to  the  zeal  of  Monsieur 
Monroe,  who  had  succeeded  Gouverneur  Morris  as 
Minister  of  the  United  States,  and  to  that  of  Ma- 
dame de  Durras,  she  was  released  the  22d  January, 
and  rejoined  her  children  at  Chavaniac.  They 
came  as  far  as  possible  on  the  way  to  meet  their 
mother,  and  their  joy  cheered  the  Marquise,  com- 
pletely exhausted  in  body  and  mind. 

This  woman,  admirable  as  she  was  miserable, 
who  had  seen  her  grandfather,  her  mother,  her 
sister,  all  her  nearest  and  dearest  relatives  and 
friends,  dragged  to  the  most  awful  of  deaths  of  the 

[45] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

block,  at  the  foot  of  which,  one  might  say,  she  her- 
self had  passed  more  than  a  year,  having  now  es- 
caped the  claws  of  the  implacable  Robespierre,  de- 
termined to  realize  her  purpose  of  rejoining  her 
husband!  First  of  all  she  wished  to  assure  the  fu- 
ture of  her  aunt,  and  to  control  that  of  her  son.  She 
decided  to  send  George  to  America  with  Monsieur 
Frestel,  and  procured  the  necessary  passports,  con- 
fident that  Monsieur  de  La  Fayette  would  be  glad  to 
think  of  his  son  surrounded  by  friends.  "I  send  you 
my  son,"  she  wrote  to  Washington,  "in  order  that 
he  may  pass,  near  you,  a  life  of  calm,  where  he  can 
resume  his  studies,  interrupted  during  these  three 
years  of  distress;  where  far  from  those  places  which 
could  either  beat  down  his  soul  or  too  much  excite 
it  with  indignation,  he  could  work  to  qualify  himself 
to  discharge  the  duties  of  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  whose  sentiments  and  principles  would  be 
always  in  accord  with  those  of  a  citizen  of  France." 
This  departure  was  heart-rending,  and  the  Mar- 
quise, in  order  to  regain  a  little  strength,  remained 
two  weeks  with  her  aunt.  The  Chateau  of  Chava- 
niac  had  been  taken  and  pillaged  during  the  Terror, 
and  Madame  de  Chavaniac  had  not  been  able  to 
rescue  even  a  bed!  But  thanks  to  the  sale  of  the 
diamonds  of  the  youngest  sister  of  Adrienne,  Rosa- 
lie de  Montclair,  Viscountess  de  Gramont,  she  was 

[46] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

able  to  buy  back  the  old  family  nest.  This  devoted 
sister,  in  passing  through  Paris  from  Franche-Comte 
in  Auvergne,  came  to  see  Madame  de  La  Fayette  the 
instant  she  learned  of  her  return.  To  avoid  meeting 
Terrorists  in  public  vehicles,  she  and  her  husband 
having  no  money  to  hire  a  private  carriage,  made  the 
long  journey  on  foot,  bringing  their  little  children  in 
baskets  swung  over  the  back  of  a  horse. 

Soon  Madame  de  La  Fayette  secured  the  pass- 
ports so  much  desired  for  herself  and  her  daughters, 
and  they  embarked  at  Dunkirk  for  Hamburg  on  an 
American  vessel,  and  then  went  on  to  Altona  in 
Prussia.  The  other  sister,  beloved  of  Adrienne, 
Madame  de  Montaigu,  was  there  then,  a  refugee  at 
her  aunt's,  the  Marquise  de  Tesse.  This  Madame 
de  Tesse,  of  whom  we  shall  speak  later,  was  the  sister 
of  the  Duke  d'Ayen,  and  had  always  been  greatly  at- 
tached to  her  nieces  and  to  their  husbands,  and  es- 
pecially to  her  nephew,  the  Marquis  de  La  Fayette, 
whose  liberal  and  philosophic  principles  she  ad- 
mired. With  wise  forethought  she  had  realized 
upon  some  securities  before  emigrating  from 
France,  and  owing  to  this  relative  ease  in  her 
finances  she  had  welcomed  Madame  de  Montaigu  in 
a  little  house  which  she  had  rented  at  Altona,  and 
whose  door  was  always  open  to  those  who  came  to 
knock  there.  She  learned  with  joy  of  the  arrival  of 

[47] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

Adrienne  and  her  daughters.  As  to  Madame  Mont- 
aigu,  still  under  the  horrible  memory  of  the  massacre 
of  her  mother  and  of  her  sister,  she  experienced  a 
terrible  emotion  in  again  seeing  Madame  de  La 
Fayette,  in  talking  over  with  her  those  distressing 
events.  Aided  by  Madame  de  Tesse,  she  did  all  in 
her  power  to  dissuade  the  travellers  from  carrying 
out  their  plan  of  going  to  General  La  Fayette,  and 
pointed  out  to  Madame  de  La  Fayette  all  the  dif- 
ficulties which  awaited  her,  and  the  risk  to  her  health, 
still  so  delicate,  which  she  would  incur. 

But  nothing  could  shake  her  resolution  so  firmly 
taken;  and  Madame  and  Mesdemoiselles  de  La 
Fayette  left  Altona  a  few  days  after  their  arrival, 
and  turned  their  steps  toward  Vienna,  where,  at  the 
request  of  the  Prince  de  Rosemberg,  a  former  friend 
of  the  Noailles,  they  were  received  by  the  Emperor, 
without  the  knowledge  of  his  Ministers.  Madame  de 
La  Fayette  asked  only  the  privilege  for  herself  and 
daughters  to  share  the  prison  of  her  husband. 

"Oh,  I  will  grant  you  that;"  answered  the 
Emperor:  "As  to  setting  him  at  liberty,  that  is  im- 
possible for  me.  My  hands  are  tied."  Doubtless 
ignorant  himself  of  the  regime  at  the  prison  of 
Olmutz,  he  declared  that  Monsieur  de  La  Fayette 
was  very  well  treated.  After  a  week  of  waiting,  the 
Minister  of  War  came  to  place  in  the  hands  of  Ma- 
US  ] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

dame  de  La  Fayette  the  permission  so  much  de- 
sired. 

"I  must  beg  you  to  give  careful  reflection,"  he  said, 
"upon  the  step  you  are  about  to  take.  I  ought  to 
warn  you  that  you  will  have  to  submit  to  a  regime 
that  will  have  serious  inconveniences  both  for  you 
and  your  daughters." 

But  the  Marquise  was  unwilling  to  listen  to  any- 
thing, and  left  Vienna  the  same  day  even  for  Ol- 
mutz.  In  spite  of  their  extreme  youth  the  daughters 
were  as  resolved  as  their  mother.  "How  are  we 
going  to  endure  what  awaits  us  on  the  morrow?"  said 
Madame  de  La  Fayette.  The  journey  for  them  ad- 
vanced slowly.  At  length  the  ist  October  arrived. 
The  morning  had  been  foggy,  when  suddenly  the 
sun  mastered  the  clouds  which  darkened  it,  and  on 
the  horizon  the  old  citadel  of  Olmutz  silhouetted  its 
two  great  towers  against  a  sky  of  azure.  At  this 
view  Madame  de  La  Fayette  could  not  restrain  her 
emotion.  Tears  came,  and  standing  up  in  the  car- 
riage she  intoned  with  her  daughters  the  Canticle 
of  Tobias,  thanking  God  for  having  safely  brought 
them  through  such  sufferings,  sacrifices  and  efforts 
to  the  object  of  all  their  affection. 

Since  his  arrest  at  Liege,  Monsieur  de  La  Fayette 
had  been  at  first  thrown  into  the  prison  of  Magde- 
bourg,  with  his  two  colleagues  of  the  General  As- 

[49] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

sembly,  Messieurs  de  Bureau  de  Pusy  and  de  Latour- 
Maubourg. 

What  this  prison  was  is  indescribable :  boxed  up 
in  a  cell  three  feet  wide  by  five  and  a  half  feet  long, 
mouldy  with  dampness  and  lighted  only  by  a  minute 
iron  grill,  the  valorous  general  was  burning  with 
fever  and  tortured  with  insomnia.  At  last  upon 
the  order  of  the  physician,  a  single  hour  of  walking 
outside  the  cell  was  granted  him;  and  thanks  to  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  a  few  letters 
from  his  wife  were  delivered  to  him,  to  some  of 
which  he  tried  to  send  answers  by  writing  with  a 
toothpick  and  lemon  juice  on  the  margin  of  some 
books  lent  to  him. 

He  learned  also,  by  one  or  two  papers  sent 
secretly  to  him,  of  the  events  which  had  taken  place  in 
France.  The  image  of  those  scaffolds,  standing 
through  all  that  lugubrious  year  of  1793,  haunted  his 
imagination,  made  him  tremble  for  those  near  to 
him,  and  plunged  him  into  the  depths  of  sadness.  At 
the  end  of  a  year  of  these  tortures,  physical  and 
moral,  he  was  informed  that  Prussia  and  Austria 
had  negotiated  on  the  subject  of  his  capture,  and 
that,  handed  over  to  the  Austrian  Government,  he 
was  to  be  transferred  to  Olmutz,  as  well  as  his 
friends,  from  whom  he  continued  to  be  separated, 
and  who  had  never,  during  all  their  captivity,  the 

[50] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

right  to  see  him  or  mutually  to  exchange  their  news. 
The  regime  of  Olmutz  was  still  more  rigorous 
than  Magdebourg — no  paper,  no  ink,  the  white 
leaves  of  books  torn  out.  He  was  three  years  with- 
out letters  from  his  wife  and  without  being  able  to 
write  to  her!  Then  it  was  that  an  American  named 
Hugger,  living  in  Vienna  with  his  Hanoverian  doc- 
tor, Monsieur  Holman,  got  to  the  prisoner  a  plan 
which  they  had  conceived  for  his  escape.  One  day 
when  accompanied  by  his  keeper  the  general  was 
making  his  usual  promenade,  he  saw  coming  towards 
him  two  horsemen  whom  he  was  watching  for. 
While  Holman  jumps  quickly  from  his  saddle, 
grasps  and  tries  to  gag  the  keeper,  Hugger  gives 
his  horse  to  La  Fayette  and  calls  to  him,  "Go  to 
Hoff."  The  general  thinks  he  says,  uGo  off,"  and 
takes  the  first  road  he  sees.  When  his  friends  ar- 
rive at  Hoff,  the  rendezvous,  they  do  not  find  La 
Fayette.  Pursued,  caught,  brought  back,  La  Fayette 
sees  the  prison  doors  close  in  upon  him  more  rigidly 
than  ever.  The  surveillance  became  more  strict,  and 
all  going  out  was  forbidden.  Deprived  of  every- 
thing, sick  in  body  and  soul,  with  no  communication 
with  his  kind,  with  no  news  of  his  wife,  in  ignorance 
of  the  fate  of  family  and  friends,  and  even  of  the 
names  of  those  whose  heads  continued  to  fall  on 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

the  scaffold,  La  Fayette  lay  for  a  whole  year  in  the 
bitterness  of  complete  discouragement. 

The  morning  of  ist  October,  1785,  he  was  seated 
at  his  tiny  table,  re-reading  for  the  twentieth  time  the 
only  book  left  him,  when  he  heard  in  the  little  pas- 
sageway that  separated  the  two  bolted  entrances  of 
his  cell,  a  sound  of  unusual  steps.  The  key  turned  in 
the  lock,  the  door  groaned  on  its  hinges,  and,  opened. 
He  saw  standing  before  him  Madame  de  La  Fayette 
and  his  two  daughters,  who  threw  open  their  arms 
to  him.  He  believed  Heaven  had  opened!  That 
God  Himself  had  sent  angels! 

To  describe  the  scene  of  this  reunion  is  impossible 
for  those  who  have  not  suffered  as  these  wretched 
souls.  Madame  de  La  Fayette  wears  the  mark  upon 
her  beautiful  features  of  this  suffering,  and  her 
misery  has  greatly  changed  her.  Yet  she  has  in 
her  face  a  surprising  calm,  an  air  of  resolution  most 
imposing.  Anastasie  and  Virginie,  tall,  slender, 
pretty,  evoking  admiration  from  their  father  who 
had  aged  very  perceptibly.  His  cheeks  are  hollow, 
his  lungs  have  caused  him  continual  distress.  But 
what  matters  now  all  the  ills  and  all  the  sadness ! 
They  are  once  more  reunited  and  rescued  by  the 
mutual  support  of  their  tenderness. 

The  regime  ,of  Olmutz  was  neither  changed  nor 
bettered.  Even  the  forks  found  in  the  luggage  of 
the  Marquise  were  seized.  She  was  refused  permis- 

[52] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

sion  to  attend  mass  with  her  daughters  on  Sunday 
in  the  adjacent  chapel  where  it  was  celebrated,  per- 
mission to  have  a  wife  of  one  of  the  soldiers  wait 
upon  her,  and  refused  permission  to  write  to  the 
Emperor,  who  had  authorized  her  to  make  her  re- 
quests directly  to  him.  She  was  reminded  at  first 
that  she  had  agreed  to  submit  to  the  same  treatment 
as  that  of  her  husband. 

UI  conform  to  that  treatment  with  pleasure,"  she 
answers;  "and  we  all  three  repeat  it,  that  we  are 
happier  here  in  sharing  the  severity  of  the  prison 
with  Monsieur  de  La  Fayette  than  anywhere  else 
in  the  world  without  him." 

They  continue,  therefore,  to  eat  with  their  fingers 
from  the  pot  in  which  their  dinner  was  given  them, 
where  soup,  meat  and  vegetables  are  mixed  to- 
gether, continue  to  wait  upon  themselves,  to  make 
their  own  beds,  to  shiver  when  it  is  cold,  when  a  fire 
is  lighted  only  two  hours  during  the  day,  at  six 
in  the  morning  and  at  four  in  the  evening.  The 
young  ladies  have  a  tiny  room  with  but  one  bed.  To 
enter  their  parents'  room,  they  have  to  pass  under 
crossed  swords  of  soldiers,  which  makes  the  oldest 
daughter  blush  to  the  ears,  and  the  youngest  assume 
a  proud  and  scornful  mien.  How  fine  they  are,  self- 
forgetful,  brave,  proud,  always  gay,  these  daughters 
of  the  grand  house  of  the  Noailles!  Anastasie, 

[53] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

with  deft  fingers,  cuts  out  garments  for  her  sister, 
mends  her  mother's  gowns;  and  as  her  father's  shoes 
have  been  already  re-soled  a  dozen  times  and  are 
worthless,  she  makes  for  him,  from  an  old  riding 
habit,  a  pair  of  stout  slippers.  Madame  de  La 
Fayette  works  under  direction;  the  General  tells 
stories;  the  rebellious  Virginie  weaves  plots.  She 
plans  to  put  the  prisoners  in  the  other  tower  into 
communication  with  her  parents.  She  arranges  a 
code  of  signals  from  her  window;  at  length  she  suc- 
ceeds in  dropping  a  basket  suspended  by  a  string  to 
a  functionary,  whose  interest  she  has  won  by  her 
kindness.  He  takes  from  it  the  food  she  has  saved 
for  him  and  by  the  same  basket  sends  up  from  the 
other  tower  of  Monsieur  de  Latour  Maubourg,  a 
little  letter  filled  with  news ! 

But  lack  of  air  and  exercise,  the  privations  and 
the  regime,  end  in  exhausting  the  strength  of  Ma- 
dame de  La  Fayette.  She  falls  ill.  Her  family  beg 
her  to  write  to  the  Emperor  for  permission  to  go  to 
Vienna  to  consult  a  physician.  The  request  is  re- 
jected. If  she  goes  out  of  Olmutz,  it  will  be  never 
to  return. 

"I  have  owed  it  to  my  family  to  beg  necessary 
relief  for  my  health,'  responds  Madame  de  La 
Fayette;  "but  they  know  that  the  price  you  thus  put 
upon  it  will  never  be  accepted  by  me.  I  will  never 

[54] 


CHATEAU  DE  CHAVANIAC 

Fireplace 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

again  expose  myself  to  the  horror  of  a  separation 
from  my  husband."  During  eleven  months  she  suf- 
fered from  severe  fever.  No  kindness  was  shown 
her.  Not  even  an  easy  chair  was  granted  her. 
From  her  miserable  pallet  she  was  borne  to  a  com- 
mon straw  chair.  It  was  during  this  illness  that  she 
wrote  the  biography  of  her  mother,  the  Duchess 
d'Ayen,  with  a  toothpick,  a  bit  of  "China  ink,"  and 
upon  the  margin  of  the  pages  of  a  volume  of  Buffon. 
To  read  today  these  delicate  pages,  full  of  resigna- 
tion and  of  such  an  extremely  high  moral  character, 
it  would  seem  as  if  one  were  reading  the  life  of  a 
saint,  written  by  another  saint. 

The  only  chagrin  that  escaped  the  lips  of  Madame 
de  La  Fayette  in  those  days  of  agony,  was  that  of  be- 
ing without  tidings  of  her  son,  for  no  communication 
with  the  United  States  whatsoever  was  permitted. 
But  nothing  changed  the  serenity,  the  saintliness,  of 
this  gentle  invalid.  "In  seeing  her  always  the  same," 
says  Madame  de  Lasteyrie,  "always  rejoicing  in  the 
good  whenever  she  found  it,  and  in  the  consolations 
which  she  had  about  her,  we  were  less  anxious  than 
we  ought  to  have  been."  The  sympathy  of  all 
Europe,  however,  commenced  to  be  aroused  for  the 
prisoners  of  Olmutz.  The  King  of  Prussia,  the 
Emperor  of  Austria,  received  the  most  touching  en- 
treaties, and  the  most  diverse :  England  with  Fox, 

[55] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

America  represented  by  Gouverneur  Morris,  made 
pressing  and  earnest  efforts. 

The  26th  July  1797,  the  Emperor  sent  an  emissary 
to  Olmutz  that  liberty  would  be  accorded  La  Fayette 
and  his  companions  if  they  would  take  oath  never 
again  to  put  foot  in  Austria.  This  the  prisoners 
proudly  refused.  "I  have  duties  I  owe  to  the  United 
States  and  above  all  to  France,"  answered  La  Fa- 
yette; "and  I  ought  not  to  promise  anything  that 
could  be  contrary  in  any  possible  fashion  to  those 
rights  which  my  country  has  in  my  person."  Madame 
de  La  Fayette,  although  at  the  end  of  her  endurance, 
approved  highly  the  attitude  of  her  husband,  whose 
sentiments  responded  always  to  those  which  she  most 
desired  that  he  should  have. 

The  Emperor,  dissatisfied,  seemed  to  lose  all  in- 
terest in  the  captives.  New  instances  were  necessary, 
and  new  devotion,  to  obtain,  at  last,  on  the  i8th  Sep- 
tember, 1797,  the  opening  of  the  prison  doors  of 
Olmutz.  Monsieur  de  La  Fayette  had  been  im- 
prisoned five  years !  his  wife  and  daughters  nearly 
two — twenty-three  months.  The  departure  from 
Olmutz  was  carried  out  under  an  officer  charged  with 
the  duty  of  conducting  them  as  far  as  the  frontier 
of  the  hereditary  states  of  Austria. .  This  first  stage 
of  the  journey  was  made  with  precaution. 

At  Dresden  the  Messieurs  de  Latour  Maubourg 

[56] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

and  de  Pusy  joined  them.  The  joy  of  seeing  one 
another  again,  and  of  feeling  themselves  once  more 
free,  was  lessened  only  by  the  delicate  health  of  Ma- 
dame de  La  Fayette,  whose  exhausted  condition  was 
seriously  augmented  by  the  fatigue  of  the  journey. 
All,  moreover,  after  such  a  long  captivity,  were 
severely  tried  by  the  new  air  outside  prison  walls. 
But  they  quickly  adjusted  themselves  to  it,  and  day 
by  day  regained  new  strength.  Everywhere  they 
passed  they  were  received  with  marks  of  en- 
thusiastic kindness  and  sympathy.  Arriving  at  Ham- 
burg, they  decided  to  go  to  rejoin  Madame  de  Tesse 
and  de  Montaigu,  whose  affectionate  devotion  and 
unremitting  efforts  had  contributed  to  their  libera- 
tion. Madame  de  Tesse  had  bought  a  little  place  at 
Witmold,  on  the  other  side  of  the  city  of  Ploen  and 
separated  from  it  by  a  lake.  She  had  continued  to 
shelter  here  Monsieur  and  Madame  de  Montaigu 
and  their  children.  Their  united  resources  were 
next  to  nothing.  But  on  this  farm  there  was  a 
"basse-cour,"  some  cows,  a  field  of  grain,  a  little 
apple  orchard;  and  with  some  fishing  of  Monsieur 
de  Tesse  and  the  shooting  preserves  of  Monsieur  de 
Montaigu,  one  could  live ! 

It  was  here  that  the  prisoners  of  Olmutz  were 
welcomed.  When,  after  the  German  fashion,  the 
postillion  sounded  the  fanfare  which  announced  their 

[57] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

approach,  Madame  de  Montaigu  could  hardly  re- 
strain her  excess  of  joy.  She  jumped  into  a  little 
sail  boat,  crossed  the  lake,  and  ran  to  Ploen  to  meet 
her  sister.  She  found  in  her  sister,  it  seemed  to  her, 
also  her  mother,  and  the  sister  of  Noailles  and  all 
whom  she  had  lost.  A  little  flotilla  of  small  boats 
transported  the  escaped  prisoners.  The  counte- 
nances of  all  were  transfigured  with  happiness;  and 
those  of  Monsieur  de  Montaigu  and  of  Madame  de 
Tesse,  who  awaited  them  on  the  shore,  were  not  less 
radiant.  The  General  had  presented  to  his  sister- 
in-law  and  to  his  aunt  Monsieur  de  Latour-Mau- 
bourg,  Messieurs  de  Pusy  and  de  Lometh,  who  were 
established  on  the  other  side  of  the  lake;  but  the 
waters  of  this  small  lake,  ordinarily  so  placid,  were 
constantly  ruffled  by  the  incessant  coming  and  going 
of  these  gentlemen. 

What  charming  reunions!  What  a  new  life  in 
this  home  of  Madame  de  Tesse!  What  gayety  in 
the  salon  and  at  table.  Everything  was  talked  about, 
but  above  all  politics,  and  when  the  conversation 
flagged  Madame  de  Tesse  quickly  spurred  it  on. 

Madame  de  Tesse  was  one  of  the  most  accom- 
plished types  of  the  women  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury; piercing  eyes,  delicate  mouth,  a  little  drawn  by 
slight  nervous  twitching,  she  yet  had  in  speaking  in- 
finite grace  and  still  more  spirit,  biting,  sententious, 

[58] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

passionate,  yet  charitable  and  kind,  always  the  central 
figure  in  all  discussions. 

As  to  La  Fayette,  he  was  so  little  changed  that  one 
grew  young  in  listening  to  him.  "Gilbert,"  wrote 
Madame  de  Montaigu,  "is  just  as  kind,  just  as  sim- 
ple in  his  manners,  as  in  the  past,  just  as  affectionate 
with  his  friends,  just  as  considerate  in  all  disputes." 
He  was  unchanged  to  his  last  hour,  preserving  always 
the  same  liberal  ideals,  ready  to  risk  his  life  anew  for 
the  high  destiny  which  he  craved  for  France. 

Madame  de  La  Fayette  gradually  grew  better; 
carefully  tended,  protected  by  the  tenderness  of 
friends,  she  regained  strength  and  gayety.  Gifted 
with  a  mind  of  wide  reach,  very  cultivated  and  ac- 
curate, with  an  eloquence  natural  to  her,  she  knew 
how  to  argue  with  a  manner  embarrassing  to  her 
adversaries  and  put  into  her  conversation  what  the 
finest  art  could  add  to  natural  tendencies. 

A  young  and  pure  love  soon  blossomed  in  the 
midst  of  these  diverse  surroundings.  Charles  de 
Latour  Maubourg,  brother  of  the  one  imprisoned  at 
Olmutz,  had  also  come  to  Witmold.  The  grace, 
the  charm,  and  the  moral  worth  of  Anastasie  de  La 
Fayette  conquered  his  heart.  The  young  girl  had  not 
a  centime;  all  that  had  been  left  to  her  parents  hav- 
ing been  seized,  pillaged  and  taken  over  by  the  Gov- 
ernment. For  the  same  reason  the  young  man  had 

[59] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

but  thirty  thousand  francs,  capital  and  income.  But 
the  young  souls  loved  each  other,  and  not-with- 
standing the  protestations  of  Madame  de  Tesse,  who 
pretended  that  only  savages  ever  married  without 
any  money,  Monsieur  and  Madame  de  La  Fayette 
accepted  the  youthful  suitor.  Moreover  the  kind 
aunt  harbored  no  ill  will  against  them,  but  heartily 
joined  her  nieces  in  making  the  trousseau  for  the 
young  fiancee,  who  was  married  the  9th  of  May, 
1798,  by  an  old  proscribed  abbe  in  the  most  beautiful 
room  of  the  house.  Her  modest  gown  of  muslin 
embroidered  by  her  aunts,  became  her  charmingly. 
The  wedding  was  simple  but  touching,  and  all  pres- 
ent, beginning  with  Madame  de  Tesse,  who  declared 
herself  incredulous,  but  whose  acts  belied  her  words, 
were  deeply  moved. 

Proscribed,  Monsieur  de  La  Fayette  could  not 
enter  France,  and  at  the  end  of  a  few  months  he  hired 
a  house  at  Vianen,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Utrecht, 
and  went  to  establish  himself  there  with  his  family, 
including  the  young  husband  and  wife.  Madame  de 
Grammont,  Madame  de  Montaigu  came  to  join 
them  for  a  little  while,  but  from  the  material  point 
of  view  they  lacked  everything  at  Vianen.  Not- 
withstanding the  good  will  of  Madame  de  La  Fa- 
yette and  the  aid  her  sisters  rendered  her  in  put- 
ting their  purse  in  common  with  hers,  one  fared  but 

F6o1 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

lightly  at  the  table  of  the  General;  and  the  mistress 
of  the  house  had  at  times,  as  her  only  resources,  to 
serve  eggs  "a  la  neige"  as  "plat  de  resistance"  for 
fifteen  or  twenty  hungry  guests. 

What  laughter,  what  pleasant  jokes  these  priva- 
tions provoked!  Nothing  could  detract  from  the 
happiness  tasted  by  the  sisters  in  this  reunion.  The 
cold  was  icy.  In  the  evening  they  gathered  in  a 
room  without  any  fire,  muffled  in  their  long 
"pelisses,"  and  with  little  care  for  the  wind  which 
whistled  through  the  cracks  of  the  thin  partitions, 
and  for  the  "chauffrettes"  which  burnt  out.  Thus 
they  passed  at  times  the  whole  night,  recalling  the 
memories  of  the  past  and  in  prayer. 

The  great  event  of  this  year  (1798)  was  the  re- 
turn from  America  of  George  de  La  Fayette.  He 
brought  back  to  his  parents  letters  from  Washington, 
and  his  own  presence  at  Vianen  was  a  joy  beyond 
words  to  the  heart  of  his  mother.  Madame  de  La 
Fayette,  of  whom  alone  the  name  had  not  been  en- 
rolled upon  the  list  of  the  "Emigres,"  could  return 
to  France,  and  never  did  her  high  spirit  show  such 
resourcefulness  as  in  the  business  matters  which  she 
must  disentangle  for  the  welfare  of  the  entire  family. 
She  succeeded  in  straightening  out  the  whole  matter 
of  the  succession  of  the  Duchess  d'Ayen,  and  in  re- 
covering a  part  of  her  property.  "We  are  all,  let 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

us  hope,  at  the  last  year  of  our  extreme  embarrass- 
ment," she  writes  to  her  sister,  "and  there  is  much 
encouragement  for  continued  activity  in  seeing  what 
has  been  already  accomplished." 

In  the  division  of  the  property  she  herself  re- 
ceived from  the  inheritance  of  her  mother  the  Cha- 
teau of  uLa  Grange,"  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  her 
husband,  who  writes  to  her,  "Apparently  you  are  at 
'La  Grange,'  my  dear  heart,  in  that  peaceful  retreat, 
where  we  are  destined,  I  hope,  to  find  repose  together 
from  the  vicissitudes  of  our  life."  But  she  did  not 
lose  from  her  sight  for  an  instant  the  return  of  Mon- 
sieur de  La  Fayette,  and  made  every  possible  ar- 
rangement which  her  good  sense  prompted.  At 
length,  on  the  "i8th  Brumaire,"  the  9th  November, 
1799,  when  the  Directory  was  overturned,  the  Coun- 
cil of  Five  Hundred  dissolved,  and  Bonaparte  called 
to  power,  Madame  de  La  Fayette,  with  her  accurate 
weighing  of  the  conditions,  determined  that  it  would 
be  possible  to  return  without  hesitation  and  without 
authorization,  and  obtained  for  him  a  passport  under 
a  fictitious  name.  She  had  already  obtained  authori- 
zation for  the  return  of  her  children  and  her  son-in- 
law.  "The  joy  of  having  seen  Anastasie  is  inex- 
pressible." Here  is  her  letter  of  the  7th  November : 

"As  to  Virginie  she  is  charming;  the  delicacy 
of  her  spirit  and  of  her  judgment,  the  elevation  of 

[62! 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

her  soul,  all  this  it  is  a  pleasure  to  see  developing  in 
her." 

Monsieur  de  La  Fayette  left  Vianen  as  soon  as  he 
received  the  passport  obtained  through  his  wife,  and 
started  on  his  journey  to  a  friend's  house  in  Paris. 
He  wrote  at  once  a  letter  to  Bonaparte,  who  showed 
signs  of  displeasure.  Madame  de  La  Fayette  went 
to  see  him,  and  was  received  in  a  courteous  fashion. 
"The  arrival  of  Monsieur  de  La  Fayette/'  said  he, 
"blocks  my  course  in  re-establishing  my  principles, 
and  forces  me  to  sail  close  to  the  wind.  I  conjure 
him,  therefore,  to  avoid  all  display." 

"That  is  my  husband's  intention,"  she  replied;  and 
the  day  after  they  left  for  the  Chateau  de  La  Grange. 
This  Chateau  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  "La 
Brie,"  and  dates,  it  is  said,  from  the  First  Crusades. 
Its  old  walls  are  blackened  by  time,  its  battlements 
austere,  its  massive  entrance  framed  in  by  two  great 
towers,  and  its  arch  festooned  with  thick  masses  of 
ivy.  The  court  is  spacious,  enclosed  on  all  sides 
except  on  the  right,  where  an  outlook  upon  the  sur- 
rounding country  is  had,  graceful  and  beautiful  with 
its  meadows  which  descend  to  the  river  bank,  and  its 
woods  which  hem  in  the  horizon.  Here  the  prisoners 
of  Olmutz  felt  the  soothing  influences  of  a  home,  and 
their  days  passed  quickly  and  agreeably.  Monsieur 
de  La  Fayette  ploughed,  planted,  raised  cattle,  and 

[63] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

directed  all  the  affairs  of  the  farm,  to  the  great  de- 
light of  his  wife,  who  now  led  the  sort  of  life  she  had 
always  wished  for. 

Little  by  little,  largely  because  of  her  influence, 
the  "emigres"  of  Witmold  were  re-established  in 
France.  Madame  de  Montaigu,  Madame  de  Tesse, 
and  many  of  the  friends  of  those  "evil  days,"  and 
among  the  most  distinguished  Charles  Fox  and  his 
wife  must  be  mentioned,  came  to  visit  them  at  "La 
Grange."  Virginie  was  married  here  to  Monsieur 
Louis  de  Lasteyrie,  a  handsome  young  man,  kind  and 
intelligent,  whom  Madame  de  Montaigu  had  pre- 
sented to  her  niece,  and  who  was  pleasing  to  her  in 
every  way.  She  was  nineteen,  but  her  animated 
face  was  so  fresh  and  blooming  that  she  would  be 
thought  to  be  hardly  fifteen.  George  de  La  Fayette, 
who  had  a  passionate  desire  to  serve  France,  obtained 
the  rank  of  lieutenant  in  a  regiment  of  the  Hussars ; 
but  Bonaparte,  because  of  his  father,  did  not  like 
him,  and  in  spite  of  his  devotion  and  heroism,  he 
made  his  career  very  difficult  for  him.  La  Fayette, 
who  maintained  a  reserved  manner  with  the  First 
Consul,  emphasized  this  reserve  in  proportion  as  the 
Emperor  made  himself  more  powerful.  He  did  not 
consider  him  as  the  true  representative  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  1789.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Royalists, 
while  visiting  at  La  Grange,  ridiculed  the  monar- 

[64] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

chical  pomp  and  ceremony  revived  by  Napoleon.  It 
was  a  war  of  words,  witty,  satirical,  at  times  pro- 
found. 

Madame  de  La  Fayette  continued  to  receive  her 
visitors  with  her  exquisite  charm.  She  gave  herself 
freely  to  all,  but  devoted  herself  to  the  most  serious 
matters.  Her  pecuniary  resources  still  remained  re- 
duced, as  also  those  of  her  sister,  Madame  de  Mont- 
aigu,  but  they  both  resolved  to  erect  a  monument 
to  the  memory  of  the  Duchess  d'Ayen,  and  of  the 
Viscountess  de  Noailles,  on  the  sacred  spot  where 
they  had  been  buried.  It  was  owing  to  a  poor  work- 
ing woman,  Mademoiselle  Paris,  that  they  learned 
that  during  the  last  weeks  of  The  Terror,  the  thirteen 
hundred  victims  of  the  scaffold  had  been  thrown  into 
a  single  pit, — at  Picpus,  on  the  St.  Mande  road  in 
Paris,  in  a  vacant  lot  near  an  old  monastery.  They 
opened  a  subscription  among  the  relatives  of  the 
massacred,  and  as  time  passed  the  undertaking  de- 
veloped. Tombs  were  erected.  The  names  of  1,310 
victims  were  engraved  upon  tablets  of  bronze.  A 
chapel  was  built  and  nuns  were  installed  in  the  con- 
vent, bought  and  restored. 

This  work  at  Picpus  was  the  last  of  her  tasks,  and 
the  supreme  consolation  of  the  Marquise,  whose 
health  became  seriously  affected. 

George  de  La  Fayette,  becoming  discouraged,  had 
[65] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

returned  to  live  at  La  Grange  with  his  charming 
wife,  Emilie  de  Tracy,  who  surrounded  her  mother- 
in-law  with  the  same  tenderness  as  that  lavished  upon 
her  by  her  own  daughters,  Madame  de  Latour 
Maubourg  and  Madame  de  Lasteyrie.  The  three 
families  were  living  near  her  at  Paris,  at  Madame 
de  Tesse's,  when  in  December,  1807,  the  invalid 
entered  into  that  period  of  suffering  from  which  she 
never  emerged.  God  and  her  husband  were  the 
absorbing  thought  of  her  last  moments.  "Even  in 
her  delirium,"  wrote  the  General,  in  an  admirable 
letter  to  Monsieur  de  Latour  Maubourg,  "she  pre- 
served an  unchanging  gentleness,  and  that  wish 
always  to  find  something  kind  to  say,  that  gratitude 
for  all  the  thoughtful  attentions  shown  her,  that  fear 
of  tiring  others,  that  sense  of  the  need  of  being  useful 
to  others,  that  subtlety  in  the  definition  of  her 
thoughts,  that  sense  of  right  and  that  elegance  which 
evoked  the  admiration  of  all  who  knew  her." 

Madame  de  La  Fayette  is  at  her  last  hour,  but  her 
heart  remains  alert.  Her  sister,  Madame.de  Mon- 
taigu,  Madame  de  Latour  Maubourg,  Monsieur  and 
Madame  George  de  La  Fayette,  Madame  de  Las- 
teyrie, carrying  in  her  arms  her  youngest  child,  sur- 
round her,  stifling  their  sobs. 

"Be  submissive,  my  children,"  says  the  dying 
friend;  "have  faith  in  God,  and  remember  that  word 

[661 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

of  the  Prophet,  'Say  to  the  just  that  all  goes  well  for 
him.'  '  She  calls  her  husband.  "How  happy  I  have 
been.  "What  a  privilege  to  be  your  wife."  And  a 
little  later;  "Are  you  a  Christian?"  she  asks  him. 
"Ah! — No — I  understand. — You  are  above  all  a 
'La  Fayettist !'  " 

"You  are  also,  I  think,"  replies  the  General,  with 
a  smile  of  sadness. 

"Yes,"  she  answers,  firmly;  "and  I  would  have 
given  my  life  for  that  'sect,'  yet  before  everything 
else  one  must  be  a  Christian." 

She  has  read  to  her  prayers  for  the  dying,  blesses 
for  the  last  time  her  children,  holds  her  husband's 
hand  in  hers,  murmurs  once  more,  "I  am  all  yours," 
and  quietly  passes  away. 

The  Marquise  de  La  Fayette,  this  woman  so  high 
minded,  so  heroic  in  the  tragic  events  of  life,  so  kind, 
so  affable,  so  simple  in  the  daily  routine,  so  French 
and  so  Catholic — is  dead! 

It  is  the  24th  December.  It  is  midnight!  How 
striking  is  the  harmony  of  the  coincidence  of  this 
date  and  the  hour,  in  the  presence  of  such  a  soul! 
In  the  chamber  of  death,  where,  from  the  church 
hard  by  mounts  the  joyous  sound  of  the  Christmas 
bells  and  the  voices  of  the  singers  of  the  canticle  of 
the  "Coming  of  the  Lord"  and  of  the  "Gloria  in 
Excelsis,"  the  beautiful  but  emaciated  face  of  Ma- 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

dame  de  La  Fayette  is  radiant  with  an  immortal 
serenity.  It  will  ever  remain  a  precious  souvenir 
in  the  minds  of  those  who  are  there,  now  desolate, 
who  weep  for  her,  like  that  star  of  the  solemn  night 
which  shall  guide  them  towards  the  eternal  haven 
where  now  she  herself  is  already  arrived. 

At  Picpus,  according  to  her  wish,  her  burial  took 
place. 

The  General  preserved  a  passionate  cult  for  his 
wife,  without  whose  companionship  he  must  go  on 
living  for  twenty-seven  years.  For  several  years  he 
was  unwilling  to  quit  La  Grange,  where  he  could  keep 
nearer  to  him  the  memory  of  her,  without  whom,  he 
said,  there  was  for  him  in  life  neither  happiness  nor 
prosperity  possible.  When  he  was  sent  back  to 
active  and  to  political  life,  how  often  did  he  regret 
not  having  longer  at  his  command  the  wise  counsels 
and  the  aid  of  that  remarkable  woman,  who  was  also 
his  very  conscience !  In  that  triumphal  journey  in 
America  in  1824,  which  he  made  as  the  guest  of.  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  of  which  history  in 
its  most  pompous  narrative  has  nothing  to  equal,  he 
writes,  "I  am  always  mediating  upon  that  admirable 
sentiment  which  compelled  her,  like  an  instinct,  to 
push  us  towards  the  United  States.  Ah,  if  we  could 
have  but  kept  her  with  us  to  enjoy  what  she  seemed 
to  foresee !"  How  proud  she  would  have  been  in- 

[68] 


Life  of  Marquise  de  La  Fayette 

deed  of  the  homage  rendered  her  husband  by  that 
nation,  so  grateful  for  his  services,  so  persevering 
in  its  friendliness,  and  so  generous  in  its  liberality! 

When  in  1834  the  General,  enfeebled  by  age,  his 
influence  diminished  by  recent  political  events,  felt 
his  end  approaching,  he  was  seen  searching  with 
trembling  hand  the  locket  he  always  wore  about  his 
neck,  containing  the  portrait  of  his  wife.  He  would 
grasp  it  and  press  it  to  his  lips ! 

"Thus,"  says  Monsieur  Guizot,  "always  separated 
from  the  entire  world,  alone  with  his  thoughts  and 
alone  with  the  image  of  the  companion  of  his  life, 
La  Fayette  died!" 

At  Picpus  also  he  was  buried,  by  the  side  of  her 
who,  according  to  her  own  expression,  had  "passion- 
ately and  worldly  yet  Christianly"  loved  him. 


[69] 


Ralph  Fletcher  Seymour 

Publisher 
Fine  Arts  Building,  Chicago 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


2lMar57uC 

Rc.'w  D  LD 

APR  2  3 


NOV  2  9  19fiO  - 

PECEIVED 


J4QV- 


RECEIVED  BY 


NOV    3  1980 


C1RCULATION  PEPTj 


General  Library 
Unive^rfC-liforni. 


M123729 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


